UN responsiveness to wartime sexual violence

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This study examines the actions of the United Nations in addressing sexual violence in civil conflict. I attempt to address three main questions: 1) does the UN respond to wartime sexual violence? 2) how does it respond? and 3) is it effective in responding to it? The first two questions will be addressed with a focus on the impact of the ideological preferences of members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on their decisions to address sexual violence. I argue that the ideological values of members of the UNSC shape how they respond to international humanitarian issues. Specifically, I make the claim that the ideology of certain political actors makes them more inclined to respond to women’s issues and improve gender equality in the conflict zones where there is a peacekeeping operation. While leftist governments are viewed as having ideological values that promote egalitarianism, universalism, and human rights, rightist and centrist political actors have a preference for preserving traditional social order and promoting values of individualism and “self-help,” respectively (Orloff 1993; Hlousek and Kopecek 2010; Noel and Theiren 2008). As a result of such variation in the ideological norms across political actors, the decisions made by the UNSC regarding peacekeeping activities should reflect the ideological preferences of its members. With respect to the last question, I will explore the role of UN personnel in reducing the perpetration of sexual violence against civilians. To tackle the three questions raised and further develop the claims put forth, the study will proceed in the following manner. In the first chapter, I explore the influence of the ideological values of the UNSC members on the adoption of mandates that include provisions mentioning the issue of sexual violence. I claim that because political actors have an interest in exhibiting ideological consistency in their policy objectives due to domestic cost concerns, political actors act according to their ideological interests domestically and internationally (Brysk 2005; Calin 2010; Noel and Therien 2008). As a result, I expect that the more leftist members there are on the Security Council, the more likely that the UNSC will adopt a mandate that mentions wartime sexual violence. To examine this relationship between ideology and mandates that include provisions addressing sexual violence, I will use a statistical analysis to examine mandates that have been adopted for all peacekeeping missions during the post-Cold War period. The second chapter draws attention to the link between the ideological values held by UN member states and the number of personnel, including women peacekeepers, deployed to peacekeeping operations. With an interest in improving gender equality domestically and internationally, it is argued that leftist governments commit more personnel to missions that face the problem of sexual violence than other types of governments. The reason for such behavior can be attributed to their desire to adhere to their ideological values in their domestic and foreign policy objectives. By sending more personnel, particularly women personnel, states influenced by a leftist ideology are able to create a more gender-balanced mission and demonstrate their interest in addressing issues of wartime sexual violence. Furthermore, because peacekeeping operations are multinational efforts, leftist political actors find that personnel contributions, including women personnel, are a low cost effort that signals to their domestic constituents that they are committed to their ideological interests. To test the claims put forth in this chapter, I will examine the number of personnel contributed by UN member states during the period of 1992-2012 using a statistical analysis. With respect to the analysis on the deployment levels of women personnel, I will use a statistical analysis to study the relationship of interest for the time period of 2009-2012. In the third chapter, I seek to explore the effectiveness of UN personnel, particularly women personnel, on reducing sexual violence. With the use of sexual violence as a common “weapon of warfare,” the United Nations has made it a point to address issues of sexual violence by sending personnel, including women personnel, to such areas (Olsson and Tryggestad 2001). I argue that the gender-mainstreaming of peacekeeping operations has helped to reduce sexual violence in conflict zones. While UN personnel, in general, are able to reduce civilian victimization, women peacekeepers have unique characteristics, including biological characteristics, that help them combat sexual violence. As a result, I expect that with more women personnel in a peacekeeping mission, there will be fewer acts of sexual violence perpetrated against civilians. For the analysis assessing the effect of women personnel, I will employ a statistical model that examines the time period of 2006-2012. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)